ISIS

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Moliere
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Re: ISIS

Post by Moliere »

new memoir, “Enhanced Interrogation: Inside the Minds and Motives of the Islamic Terrorists Trying To Destroy America,”
But perhaps the most riveting part of the book is what KSM told Mitchell about what inspired al-Qaeda to attack the United States — and the U.S. response he expected. Today, some on both the left and the right argue that al-Qaeda wanted to draw us into a quagmire in Afghanistan — and now the Islamic State wants to do the same in Iraq and Syria. KSM said this is dead wrong. Far from trying to draw us in, KSM said that al-Qaeda expected the United States to respond to 9/11 as we had the 1983 bombing of the Marine barracks in Beirut — when, KSM told Mitchell, the United States “turned tail and ran.” He also said he thought we would treat 9/11 as a law enforcement matter, just as we had the bombings of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania and the USS Cole in Yemen — arresting some operatives and firing a few missiles into empty tents, but otherwise leaving him free to plan the next attack.

“Then he looked at me and said, ‘How was I supposed to know that cowboy George Bush would announce he wanted us ‘dead or alive’ and then invade Afghanistan to hunt us down?’” Mitchell writes. “KSM explained that if the United States had treated 9/11 like a law enforcement matter, he would have had time to launch a second wave of attacks.” He was not able to do so because al-Qaeda was stunned “by the ferocity and swiftness of George W. Bush’s response.”

But KSM said something else that was prophetic. In the end, he told Mitchell, “We will win because Americans don’t realize . . . we do not need to defeat you militarily; we only need to fight long enough for you to defeat yourself by quitting.”
"The world is suffering more today from the good people who want to mind other men's business than it is from the bad people who are willing to let everybody look after their own individual affairs." - Clarence Darrow
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Max Peck
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Re: ISIS

Post by Max Peck »

Moliere wrote:new memoir, “Enhanced Interrogation: Inside the Minds and Motives of the Islamic Terrorists Trying To Destroy America,”
But perhaps the most riveting part of the book is what KSM told Mitchell about what inspired al-Qaeda to attack the United States — and the U.S. response he expected. Today, some on both the left and the right argue that al-Qaeda wanted to draw us into a quagmire in Afghanistan — and now the Islamic State wants to do the same in Iraq and Syria. KSM said this is dead wrong. Far from trying to draw us in, KSM said that al-Qaeda expected the United States to respond to 9/11 as we had the 1983 bombing of the Marine barracks in Beirut — when, KSM told Mitchell, the United States “turned tail and ran.” He also said he thought we would treat 9/11 as a law enforcement matter, just as we had the bombings of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania and the USS Cole in Yemen — arresting some operatives and firing a few missiles into empty tents, but otherwise leaving him free to plan the next attack.

“Then he looked at me and said, ‘How was I supposed to know that cowboy George Bush would announce he wanted us ‘dead or alive’ and then invade Afghanistan to hunt us down?’” Mitchell writes. “KSM explained that if the United States had treated 9/11 like a law enforcement matter, he would have had time to launch a second wave of attacks.” He was not able to do so because al-Qaeda was stunned “by the ferocity and swiftness of George W. Bush’s response.”

But KSM said something else that was prophetic. In the end, he told Mitchell, “We will win because Americans don’t realize . . . we do not need to defeat you militarily; we only need to fight long enough for you to defeat yourself by quitting.”
Mitchell is an American patriot who has been unjustly persecuted for his role in crafting an interrogation program that helped stop terrorist attacks and saved countless lives.
Sounds like someone is angling for a position in the Trump administration. :coffee:
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Isgrimnur
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Re: ISIS

Post by Isgrimnur »

More pew-pew, less kaboom:
nformation gleaned from a comparison between captured personnel records dating between 2006 and 2007 from Al Qaeda’s Iraqi affiliates, and similar Islamic State files dating between 2011 and 2014 which were leaked to NBC News in 2016. Those files are the focus of a December 2016 report from the Combating Terrorism Center at West Point.

The Islamic State keeps extensive records detailing its foreign recruits’ identities and backgrounds. The terror group writes down names, origins, employment histories and what potential fighters would prefer to do after joining, much like a military recruiter would.

For instance, both Al Qaeda and the Islamic State asked recruits whether they wanted to serve as a fighter or a suicide bomber, although the Islamic State added a third category of “suicide fighter,” or militants who rig themselves to explode and fight to the death.

Perhaps surprisingly, then, the Islamic State’s recruits appear less explicitly willing to be kamikazes. A majority — 58 percent — of the Al Qaeda foreign recruits sought to become suicide bombers in 2006–2007 compared to five percent of the Islamic State recruits, according to the report.

Another six percent of the ISIS recruits told their handlers that they wanted to become suicide fighters. That leaves 89 percent who said they wanted to simply fight. But the strategic goals differ today. Islamic State wants to hold ground, and it can’t do that if the bulk of its army blows itself up.
...
To be sure, the fact that recruits mostly answered “fighter” doesn’t mean Iraqi and Syrian soldiers fighting on the battlefield can let their guard down. Suicide attacks are a pervasive ISIS tactic, and what a recruit says he wants to do can change. But the Islamic State — to a greater extent than Al Qaeda in Iraq — appears to rely more on suicide bombers to exploit vulnerabilities during fighting.
...
[T]he average age for an Islamic State recruit in general — 31 years old — is older than foreign fighters from 10 years ago. The age range grew wider, and some recruits were reaching retirement age when they arrived.
It's almost as if people are the problem.
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Max Peck
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Re: ISIS

Post by Max Peck »

How the U.S. Military Sees the Anti-ISIS Fight
ERBIL, Iraq—There’s no welcome sign at this U.S. military base discreetly tucked into the corner of the Kurdistan International Airport in northern Iraq. It doesn’t even have a name. But it’s here. Thousands of troops are here, including Americans, Germans, Italians, Finns, and Brits. And this time, it seems the U.S. military is in Iraq to stay.

The temporary tents and dining hall erected to house U.S. forces—including special operators, CIA agents, and private military contractors who hunt, kill, and interrogate for America—are being replaced with permanent buildings. At least five types of U.S. military helicopters crisscross the bright September skies over Kurdistan’s peaceful, bustling capital city, some ferrying generals up from Baghdad, others heading north into Syria with bearded special operators’ feet dangling from Black Hawk doors, or banking west toward Mosul, bringing Americans to the front lines of war.

It sounds busy and feels familiar, but today’s war in Iraq is a far cry from the mammoth effort of a decade ago. Gone are the hundreds of thousands of American troops and contractors occupying hundreds of sprawling bases and outposts across the country. Gone is the Bush administration’s total war and total occupation of a country. In its place is the Obama Doctrine.

In his 2008 campaign, Barack Obama pledged to keep American troops out of unnecessary fighting while helping local populations defend and govern themselves. In short, it was his reaction to the Iraq War and over-extending America in the Middle East, explained Jeffrey Goldberg in his blockbuster article in The Atlantic, after spending hours with the commander-in-chief. “Obama generally does not believe a president should place American soldiers at great risk in order to prevent humanitarian disasters, unless those disasters pose a direct security threat to the United States,” he said.

But ISIS’s rise in Iraq and Syria has confronted this vision with shocking reality. The unmitigated slaughter of Syrian civilians has provoked heavy, if not quite universal, condemnation of Obama’s and other Western governments. It angered an American electorate tired of wars in the Middle East but increasingly fearful of Islamic extremist terrorism reaching Europe and America. And it fueled perceptions that Obama was keeping the mighty U.S. military on the sidelines, instead of just taking out what looked like nothing more than a savage band of pickup-driving psychopathic murderers. (One frustrated 2016 presidential candidate made the ridiculous suggestion of “carpet-bombing” Iraq.) Obama and U.S. generals have vowed to “destroy ISIS”—but he will this week be replaced in office by a candidate who said he could do it more quickly.

But what does the military want? In dozens of interviews with U.S. officials and coalition military commanders—from the White House to America’s war room in Tampa, the command in Baghdad, forward control centers and training grounds in Kurdistan, defense minister meetings in Paris, and NATO headquarters in Brussels—one thing was clear and consistent. On the whole, America’s military leaders do not want to be here any longer than they must. It is also clear that they wanted to “accelerate” the campaign against ISIS, as Obama has been doing already for more than a year with success, but they do not want America to own this fight. They do want Iraqis to fight and a functioning Iraqi government to take control when the Islamic State is gone. They don’t want to defeat ISIS only to become an occupying force of sitting ducks.

What they want is what Obama wants: patience. It’s a word I hear over and over, talking with special operators tasked to train local forces to fight terrorism and with the faraway policy makers they support. Like the outgoing president, they believe an enduring effort and a long view are key to winning the conflicts in the Middle East and halting the spread of global terrorism. But will Trump have the same patience as Obama? Will Trump have the same patience as his generals?

Due to the sensitive nature of special operations, operational security, and the policy decisions of civilian or higher-ranking officials, I spoke with officials and troops under a wide range of interview rules, ranging from on-the-record to on background, deep background, and off-the-record. Without fail, they were eager to tell how their strategy of training and fighting “by, with, and through” local forces is working, and not just in the Middle East but all over the world in places Americans rarely hear about, like Yemen, Africa, and Southeast Asia. They all agreed: It is a slower, yet far more effective, less costly, and less deadly way to victory. And they all expressed frustration, a little or a lot, with the press, politicians, and even the public who don’t see the wisdom of that approach.
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Moliere
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Re: ISIS

Post by Moliere »

"The world is suffering more today from the good people who want to mind other men's business than it is from the bad people who are willing to let everybody look after their own individual affairs." - Clarence Darrow
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Re: ISIS

Post by Isgrimnur »

Marawi, Philippines
Foreign fighters are among Islamist militants killed in a southern Philippine city in recent days, officials say.

Six jihadists, including Indonesian and Malaysian citizens, were killed as the army continued its operation to drive the rebels out of the city of Marawi.

Attack helicopters and special forces have been deployed in the offensive.

It is a rare admission by the authorities that local jihadists are working with international groups.

Marawi is a mainly Muslim city in Lanao del Sur province on the southern island of Mindanao. The province is a stronghold for the Maute group, which has pledged allegiance to so-called Islamic State (IS).

Fighting erupted after the army tried to capture top militant leader Isnilon Hapilon, a leader of the Abu Sayyaf militant group. He has pledged allegiance to IS and Philippine Solicitor General Jose Calida said IS had designated him its leader in the Philippines.

When the raid failed, dozens of gunmen came out on to the streets of Marawi, reportedly flying IS flags. Buildings were burned, prison inmates freed and hostages taken as the militants battled troops across the city.
...
At least 11 soldiers and 31 militants had been killed, a military spokesman said. It is not clear if any civilians are among the dead. Thousands of residents have fled from the city.
...
Mindanao is home to several Muslim rebel groups fighting for greater autonomy. The main ones are now holding peace talks with the government but some smaller, more hardline groups remain active.
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Max Peck
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Re: ISIS

Post by Max Peck »

Duterte justified martial law over the ‘beheading’ of a police chief — who is still alive
When President Rodrigo Duterte explained his decision to declare martial law across a wide swath of the southern Philippines, he described one of the most chilling scenes imaginable: a beheading.

In a news conference that made headlines around the world, Duterte said that the police chief in Malabang was stopped at a checkpoint on his way home from work and slaughtered by terrorists on the spot. “They decapitated him then and there,” he said.

The Philippine president’s claim spread like wildfire, with much of the local and foreign press reporting it as fact. Soon, unconfirmed reports of “beheadings” became a major part of the Philippines storyline.

Asked to comment on the declaration of martial law, Susan Thornton, acting assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, told journalists in Beijing on Friday that she “wouldn’t want to second-guess what you would do in a situation where you have people being beheaded on television and church groups taken hostage.”

But the Malabang police chief is alive — The Washington Post spoke to him on Friday. And The Post could find no new evidence of televised beheadings in Mindanao, though unconfirmed accounts of beheadings are circulating widely online. (There have been beheadings there in the past, and a priest and some followers were indeed taken hostage this week, according to a Filipino bishop.)

It is not yet clear whether the police chief story was a mix-up or a careful bit of messaging. What is certain, though, is that the inaccurate report shaped how the martial law news was covered — and potentially how it was received by the government of the United States.
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Fitzy
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Re: ISIS

Post by Fitzy »

I hope they investigate carefully. It's not unheard of for people to be beheaded and come back to life. Usually happens during a wedding though.
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LordMortis
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Re: ISIS

Post by LordMortis »

Wasn't sure where to put this, but this is not good for my area. I mean really not good for my area. :( :x

http://www.freep.com/story/news/2017/06 ... 370329001/
A friend of one of the London Bridge terror suspects told a British media outlet that the suspect was influenced by Ahmad Musa Jebril, a Dearborn cleric popular with ISIS fighters.

The friend told the BBC Asian Network that the terror suspect — one of three accused of killing seven people Saturday night and injuring 48 others — often watched the videos of Jebril who has developed an international following in recent years.
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Moliere
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Re: ISIS

Post by Moliere »

Iran attacks: 'IS' hits parliament and Khomeini mausoleum
Twin attacks on the Iranian parliament and Ayatollah Khomeini's mausoleum in the capital, Tehran, have killed at least 12 people and injured many more.

After hours of intermittent gunfire, officials said both incidents were over and the attackers were dead.

The Islamic State (IS) group has said it carried out the attacks, which would be a first in Iran.

Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guards accused Saudi Arabia and the US of being behind the attacks.

"This terrorist action, coming one week after the meeting of the president of the United States with the leader of the one of the region's reactionary governments (Saudi Arabia)... shows they are involved in this savage action," it said in a statement.
"The world is suffering more today from the good people who want to mind other men's business than it is from the bad people who are willing to let everybody look after their own individual affairs." - Clarence Darrow
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Max Peck
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Re: ISIS

Post by Max Peck »

Meanwhile, it appears that the battle for Raqqa has commenced.
On Tuesday, the Kurdish-Arab Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) alliance announced that the battle for Raqqa had officially begun.

It is the final phase of a campaign - codenamed Operation Wrath of Euphrates - that was launched in November, shortly after Iraqi forces moved to recapture the city of Mosul.

The initial goal of this campaign was to isolate the so-called Islamic State's de-facto capital and thereafter recapture it

But as the SDF's fighters advanced, they faced considerable resistance from IS militants.

When they tried to capture the Tabqa Dam with the help of US special forces earlier this year, IS opened several turbines to raise the water level of the River Euphrates.

If the dam had been breached before the SDF seized control in May, there could have been flooding on a massive scale across Raqqa province and as far away as Deir al-Zour.

The SDF attacked Raqqa from the north, west and east on Monday after a series of heavy air strikes conducted by the US-led coalition against IS.

The south of the city is meanwhile sealed off by the Euphrates, which can only be crossed by boat because the bridges over it were knocked out in pre-emptive strikes.

It is expected that the battle for Raqqa will be very fierce.

The coalition recently estimated that that there are 3,000 to 4,000 IS fighters holed up inside, including foreign fighters and various senior figures.

It is unclear how many civilians are trapped in the city, but the International Rescue Committee put the figure at 200,000 and warned that they were at risk of being killed by IS if they attempted to flee or used as human shields if they remained.
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Max Peck
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Re: ISIS

Post by Max Peck »

The end of the battle for Mosul appears to be in sight.
Iraqi forces began storming the Islamic State-held Old City of Mosul on Sunday, in an assault they hope will be the last in the eight-month-old campaign to seize the militants' stronghold.

The historic district, and a tiny area to its north, are the only parts of the city still under control of the Islamists. Mosul used to be the Iraqi capital of the group, also known as ISIS.

"Iraqi forces early this morning breach into old Mosul, the final ISIS-held district in the city," Brett McGurk, the U.S. envoy to the international coalition fighting Islamic State, said on Twitter. "We are proud to stand with them."

The Iraqi army estimates the number of Islamic State fighters at no more than 300, down from nearly 6,000 in the city when the battle of Mosul started on Oct. 17.

But the Old City is a densely-populated maze of narrow alleyways and the fighting is slow, bloody and house-to-house.

About 100,000 civilians are trapped, with little food, water or medical treatment.

"This will be a terrifying time for around 100,000 people still trapped in Mosul's Old City ... now at risk of getting caught up in the fierce street fighting to come," the International Rescue Committee (IRC) said in a statement.

"This is the final chapter" of the offensive to take Mosul, said Lieutenant General Abdul Ghani al-Assadi, senior commander in Mosul of the elite Iraqi Counter Terrorism Service (CTS) units spearheading the assault.
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Pyperkub
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Re: ISIS

Post by Pyperkub »

Max Peck wrote:The end of the battle for Mosul appears to be in sight.
Iraqi forces began storming the Islamic State-held Old City of Mosul on Sunday, in an assault they hope will be the last in the eight-month-old campaign to seize the militants' stronghold.

The historic district, and a tiny area to its north, are the only parts of the city still under control of the Islamists. Mosul used to be the Iraqi capital of the group, also known as ISIS.

"Iraqi forces early this morning breach into old Mosul, the final ISIS-held district in the city," Brett McGurk, the U.S. envoy to the international coalition fighting Islamic State, said on Twitter. "We are proud to stand with them."

The Iraqi army estimates the number of Islamic State fighters at no more than 300, down from nearly 6,000 in the city when the battle of Mosul started on Oct. 17.

But the Old City is a densely-populated maze of narrow alleyways and the fighting is slow, bloody and house-to-house.

About 100,000 civilians are trapped, with little food, water or medical treatment.

"This will be a terrifying time for around 100,000 people still trapped in Mosul's Old City ... now at risk of getting caught up in the fierce street fighting to come," the International Rescue Committee (IRC) said in a statement.

"This is the final chapter" of the offensive to take Mosul, said Lieutenant General Abdul Ghani al-Assadi, senior commander in Mosul of the elite Iraqi Counter Terrorism Service (CTS) units spearheading the assault.
I'm pretty sure we've heard that for years. Over a decade I think. Until it's peaceful for a couple of years I won't believe it.
Black Lives definitely Matter Lorini!

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Max Peck
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Re: ISIS

Post by Max Peck »

Pyperkub wrote:
Max Peck wrote:The end of the battle for Mosul appears to be in sight.
Iraqi forces began storming the Islamic State-held Old City of Mosul on Sunday, in an assault they hope will be the last in the eight-month-old campaign to seize the militants' stronghold.

The historic district, and a tiny area to its north, are the only parts of the city still under control of the Islamists. Mosul used to be the Iraqi capital of the group, also known as ISIS.

"Iraqi forces early this morning breach into old Mosul, the final ISIS-held district in the city," Brett McGurk, the U.S. envoy to the international coalition fighting Islamic State, said on Twitter. "We are proud to stand with them."

The Iraqi army estimates the number of Islamic State fighters at no more than 300, down from nearly 6,000 in the city when the battle of Mosul started on Oct. 17.

But the Old City is a densely-populated maze of narrow alleyways and the fighting is slow, bloody and house-to-house.

About 100,000 civilians are trapped, with little food, water or medical treatment.

"This will be a terrifying time for around 100,000 people still trapped in Mosul's Old City ... now at risk of getting caught up in the fierce street fighting to come," the International Rescue Committee (IRC) said in a statement.

"This is the final chapter" of the offensive to take Mosul, said Lieutenant General Abdul Ghani al-Assadi, senior commander in Mosul of the elite Iraqi Counter Terrorism Service (CTS) units spearheading the assault.
I'm pretty sure we've heard that for years. Over a decade I think. Until it's peaceful for a couple of years I won't believe it.
Really? We've been hearing that the battle to retake Mosul from IS has been nearing a conclusion for a decade?

I guess that's true if we count the period of time when IS didn't exist as such and hadn't yet occupied Mosul. :think:
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Pyperkub
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Re: ISIS

Post by Pyperkub »

Max Peck wrote:
Pyperkub wrote:
Max Peck wrote:The end of the battle for Mosul appears to be in sight.
Iraqi forces began storming the Islamic State-held Old City of Mosul on Sunday, in an assault they hope will be the last in the eight-month-old campaign to seize the militants' stronghold.

The historic district, and a tiny area to its north, are the only parts of the city still under control of the Islamists. Mosul used to be the Iraqi capital of the group, also known as ISIS.

"Iraqi forces early this morning breach into old Mosul, the final ISIS-held district in the city," Brett McGurk, the U.S. envoy to the international coalition fighting Islamic State, said on Twitter. "We are proud to stand with them."

The Iraqi army estimates the number of Islamic State fighters at no more than 300, down from nearly 6,000 in the city when the battle of Mosul started on Oct. 17.

But the Old City is a densely-populated maze of narrow alleyways and the fighting is slow, bloody and house-to-house.

About 100,000 civilians are trapped, with little food, water or medical treatment.

"This will be a terrifying time for around 100,000 people still trapped in Mosul's Old City ... now at risk of getting caught up in the fierce street fighting to come," the International Rescue Committee (IRC) said in a statement.

"This is the final chapter" of the offensive to take Mosul, said Lieutenant General Abdul Ghani al-Assadi, senior commander in Mosul of the elite Iraqi Counter Terrorism Service (CTS) units spearheading the assault.
I'm pretty sure we've heard that for years. Over a decade I think. Until it's peaceful for a couple of years I won't believe it.
Really? We've been hearing that the battle to retake Mosul from IS has been nearing a conclusion for a decade?

I guess that's true if we count the period of time when IS didn't exist as such and hadn't yet occupied Mosul. :think:
In this case, one faction or another of extremists. I don't think Mosul has been peaceful since the invasion for more than a month or two.
Black Lives definitely Matter Lorini!

Also: There are three ways to not tell the truth: lies, damned lies, and statistics.
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Re: ISIS

Post by El Guapo »

Pyperkub wrote:
Max Peck wrote:
Pyperkub wrote:
Max Peck wrote:The end of the battle for Mosul appears to be in sight.
Iraqi forces began storming the Islamic State-held Old City of Mosul on Sunday, in an assault they hope will be the last in the eight-month-old campaign to seize the militants' stronghold.

The historic district, and a tiny area to its north, are the only parts of the city still under control of the Islamists. Mosul used to be the Iraqi capital of the group, also known as ISIS.

"Iraqi forces early this morning breach into old Mosul, the final ISIS-held district in the city," Brett McGurk, the U.S. envoy to the international coalition fighting Islamic State, said on Twitter. "We are proud to stand with them."

The Iraqi army estimates the number of Islamic State fighters at no more than 300, down from nearly 6,000 in the city when the battle of Mosul started on Oct. 17.

But the Old City is a densely-populated maze of narrow alleyways and the fighting is slow, bloody and house-to-house.

About 100,000 civilians are trapped, with little food, water or medical treatment.

"This will be a terrifying time for around 100,000 people still trapped in Mosul's Old City ... now at risk of getting caught up in the fierce street fighting to come," the International Rescue Committee (IRC) said in a statement.

"This is the final chapter" of the offensive to take Mosul, said Lieutenant General Abdul Ghani al-Assadi, senior commander in Mosul of the elite Iraqi Counter Terrorism Service (CTS) units spearheading the assault.
I'm pretty sure we've heard that for years. Over a decade I think. Until it's peaceful for a couple of years I won't believe it.
Really? We've been hearing that the battle to retake Mosul from IS has been nearing a conclusion for a decade?

I guess that's true if we count the period of time when IS didn't exist as such and hadn't yet occupied Mosul. :think:
In this case, one faction or another of extremists. I don't think Mosul has been peaceful since the invasion for more than a month or two.
Right, but Max was posting about this particular battle for Mosul (which is almost over). I don't think the point was "we're nearing the end of any battles for Mosul, after which the city will be a bastion of tranquility and peace forevermore".
Black Lives Matter.
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Re: ISIS

Post by Isgrimnur »

Don't be the last parents on the block to get the LEGO-compatible ISIS kits for the kids this Ramadan season.

Image
Counterfeit ISIS-themed Lego sets complete with beheading figurines are being produced in China and have been discovered on sale in Malaysia.

A mother noticed the Islamic State terrorist figures inside a 'Falcon Commandos' set that had been bought for less than $2 by her youngest son from a store in Taiping, north of Kuala Lumpur.

The serial number on the box has been traced back to a manufacturer in China, Berita Harian reports.

The 'Falcon Commandos' fake Lego series pits counter-terror police against black-clothed Islamic State figures, commonly known as mini-figs, and what appears to be the ISIS flag.

One ISIS mini-fig set pictures an Islamic State jihadi armed with a chainsaw and a bloodied head at his feet.
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Re: ISIS

Post by Max Peck »

Mission accomplished.
Iraq’s prime minister entered the city of Mosul on Sunday to declare victory in the nine-month battle for control of the Islamic State’s former stronghold, signaling the near-end of the most grueling campaign against the group to date and dealing a near-fatal blow to the survival of its self-declared caliphate.

On a walk through the city’s eastern districts, Haider al-Abadi was thronged by men holding cameraphones as music blared and others danced in the streets.

“The world did not imagine that Iraqis could eliminate Daesh,” he said, using the Arabic acronym for the Islamic State. “This is all a result of the sacrifices of the heroic fighters who impressed the world with their courage.”

But in a sign of how tenaciously the Islamic State has fought, even as Abadi was touring the town the sound of airstrikes echoed through the skies and smoke rose from the last pocket of territory the militants control, thought to be no more than 200 yards long and 50 yards wide.
Almost. For the moment.
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Re: ISIS

Post by Max Peck »

ISIS Fighters, Having Pledged to Fight or Die, Surrender en Masse
The prisoners were taken to a waiting room in groups of four, and were told to stand facing the concrete wall, their noses almost touching it, their hands bound behind their backs.

More than a thousand prisoners determined to be Islamic State fighters passed through that room last week after they fled their crumbling Iraqi stronghold of Hawija. Instead of the martyrdom they had boasted was their only acceptable fate, they had voluntarily ended up here in the interrogation center of the Kurdish authorities in northern Iraq.

For an extremist group that has made its reputation on its ferociousness, with fighters who would always choose suicide over surrender, the fall of Hawija has been a notable turning point. The group has suffered a string of humiliating defeats in Iraq and Syria, but the number of its shock troops who turned themselves in at the center in Dibis was unusually large, more than 1,000 since last Sunday, according to Kurdish intelligence officials.
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malchior
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Re: ISIS

Post by malchior »

I wonder how many sleeper cells are going to be spawned - they potentially still have a core of apocalyptic fanatics.
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Defiant
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Re: ISIS

Post by Defiant »

ISIS has lost it's capital

So I guess that would make them isis now.
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Re: ISIS

Post by El Guapo »

Defiant wrote: Tue Oct 17, 2017 4:20 pm ISIS has lost it's capital

So I guess that would make them isis now.
Nice.

This would also explain why Iraq feels comfortable moving on the Kurdish fighters now. Related to that, I would think that as long as the Syrian civil war (and related conflicts) continue, there's still a chance for an ISIS comeback of sorts, as various combatants that have been focusing on them instead turn to focus more on each other.
Black Lives Matter.
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Re: ISIS

Post by Freyland »

El Guapo wrote: Tue Oct 17, 2017 4:40 pm
Defiant wrote: Tue Oct 17, 2017 4:20 pm ISIS has lost it's capital

So I guess that would make them isis now.
Nice.

+1
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Re: ISIS

Post by AWS260 »

ISIS declares war on... Hamas.
It urges attacks on Hamas’s members, courts and security positions, as well as on Shiites and Christians in Gaza, according to the Washington-based SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors Islamic State propaganda.

Tensions have long simmered between the two groups, even as common interests have led to cross-border cooperation in the past, particularly in arms smuggling, according to officials and experts in the region. But in declaring war against Hamas, the Sinai group has surrounded itself with enemies — Egypt, Israel and now Hamas — and given Hamas a common cause with Israel.
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Re: ISIS

Post by Max Peck »

US-backed force attacks last IS pocket in eastern Syria
A US-backed militia alliance has begun what it says is the final stage of a campaign to clear the Islamic State (IS) group from north-eastern Syria.

The Syrian Democratic Forces launched a ground offensive on Monday against jihadist militants around Hajin, a town in the Middle Euphrates River Valley.

The international coalition backing the Kurdish and Arab fighters said they were expecting a "difficult fight".

The US recently estimated that IS still had about 14,000 militants in Syria.

Most are believed to be in an area stretching east from the Euphrates to the border with Iraq, about 25km (16 miles) away from Hajin, and in desert areas in the south and centre of the country, where the Syrian government is battling them.

Between 15,500 and 17,100 militants are thought to be based in Iraq, where IS no longer fully controls any territory. Many are hiding in the vast western desert.

At its peak in 2014, IS established a "caliphate" stretching across Syria and Iraq that was similar in size to the UK and ruled over more than 7.7 million people.
Could it be that Trump's super-secret strategy of continuing to do what was already being done is working?
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Re: ISIS

Post by Fitzy »

What happens in Syria if/when ISIS is cleared?
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Re: ISIS

Post by Max Peck »

Fitzy wrote: Tue Sep 11, 2018 12:25 pm What happens in Syria if/when ISIS is cleared?
My WAG: American forces withdraw, Trump has a victory parade and the Kurds that did the heavy lifing are left to the tender mercies of Syria/Russia/Turkey. I'd love for Trump to prove me wrong, fwiw.
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Re: ISIS

Post by hepcat »

In America, if something good happens anywhere in the world, Trump will take credit for it. If something bad happens anywhere in the world, Trump will blast Obama for it.
Covfefe!
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Re: ISIS

Post by Kraken »

The Pentagon will find justification for maintaining a presence there. The Syrian civil war is morphing into a proxy war involving Iran, Syria, Turkey, Kurdistan, Russia, and maybe Israel. How could we not want a piece of that?
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Re: ISIS

Post by Max Peck »

The Deadliest Day for the U.S. in Syria
Mere weeks after President Donald Trump declared on Twitter that the Islamic State was defeated in Syria and it was time to leave, the militants claimed credit for an attack that, in one stroke, doubled the overall death toll the U.S. has suffered in the counter-ISIS campaign. An explosion in the Kurdish-held town of Manbij killed two U.S. soldiers, along with a Defense Department civilian and a contractor, according to the Pentagon. More than 10 others were also reported killed.

“Our fight against terrorism is ongoing and we will remain vigilant and committed to its destruction,” Acting Defense Secretary Pat Shanahan told reporters after the attack. But the fight has grown more complicated as the military begins the process of withdrawing some 2,000 troops from Syria and diplomats scramble to plan what will happen after they leave.

The assault in northern Syria underscores both the reasons Trump wants to get out and the forces that will make it difficult. The administration has said that ISIS has lost some 98 percent of its territory, but official estimates from both the U.S. Defense Department and the United Nations put the number of ISIS members in the thousands. Last April, a spokesman for the counter-ISIS coalition noted that as the group was driven out of territory, it had sought ways to rebuild itself in desert areas, as well as in population centers.
A reminder that destroying IS as a de facto state is not the same as destroying IS as an organization or a movement.
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Re: ISIS

Post by GreenGoo »

It's incredibly irresponsible to claim an organization's defeat when literally a single person in the wrong place at the wrong time can make it the center of media attention around the world. Even if the organization completely vanished and we didn't hear a peep from them for 5 years, some wingnut with internet access will do something atrocious and then claim ISIS credit for it, and then we're back to being afraid and wondering why they haven't been defeated yet, the president said they were gone.
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Re: ISIS

Post by Isgrimnur »

CBS News
U.S.-backed forces were closing in Friday on the last sliver of ISIS territory in Syria. As of Friday morning, ISIS controlled only about one square mile in the eastern village of Baghouz where, as Charlie D'Agata reported, there was a real change in the atmosphere in just a few hours. There was a sense on Friday that America's allies on the ground may be close to wrapping up the final battle after days of fighting.

ISIS militants had been firing back with everything they had left. But on the front line Thursday, there was a change; D'Agata said the soldiers seemed more at ease, sensing victory.
...
Hundreds of ISIS fighters reportedly surrendered over the past couple days – as many as half the estimated number left in the enclave. American aid worker David Eubank told CBS News he saw dozens give themselves up to U.S. Special Forces.
....
Coalition officials have released a statement saying while "ISIS is on the verge of collapse and that the end of the physical caliphate is at hand," they continue to pose a threat to the security of the region.
It's almost as if people are the problem.
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Re: ISIS

Post by GreenGoo »

:clap:
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Re: ISIS

Post by Isgrimnur »

CNN
Some 500 ISIS fighters surrendered to US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces on Tuesday, amid the final push to wrest the jihadist group from Baghouz, its last remaining enclave in eastern Syria.

The militants were among a wave of people fleeing fighting in the village, near the Iraqi border, which has been pummeled by US-led coalition airstrikes in recent weeks.

A CNN team was at a reception area on Tuesday where thousands were being processed -- both militants and civilians. SDF spokesman Mustafa Bali said on Twitter that 3,500 people were evacuated from Baghouz on Tuesday alone.
...
SDF commanders have told CNN that ISIS fighters are putting up a fierce resistance in their bid to hold onto the group's last scrap of territory, deploying guided missiles and using a network of tunnels to launch attacks.

The militants that are left include some of the most battle-hardened and experienced personnel remaining in ISIS. Some of those being used as human shields are the wives and children of those ISIS fighters.
It's almost as if people are the problem.
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Re: ISIS

Post by Isgrimnur »

WaPo
As Islamic State cadres mount a final stand in what remains of their proto-state, the group is already switching gears, returning to its insurgent roots by seeding sleeper cells across parts of Syria and Iraq it once controlled. The U.S.-supported Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) fear to linger in the villages they technically hold on the road to Baghouz, the Islamic State’s final redoubt. Assassinations are mounting, locals say. Jihadists set up checkpoints by night, then melt away with the dawn.
...
With its remaining members scattered across the desert hinterlands of both countries, there is no suggestion the Islamic State will regain significant territory anytime soon. But experts warn that the coming months could determine whether the group will be able to destabilize the still-fragile security situation and set the stage for fresh violence.

Conditions in Deir al-Zour province, where the Islamic State is mounting its final stand, remain unusually fertile for the militants. Clandestine cells are active in several areas, where shattered villages and vast tracts of desert are difficult to police, experts say.
It's almost as if people are the problem.
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Re: ISIS

Post by Isgrimnur »

Onion: U.S. Army Now Just Chasing Single Remaining ISIS Soldier Around Ruins Of Syrian Village
It's almost as if people are the problem.
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Re: ISIS

Post by malchior »

Isgrimnur wrote: Wed Mar 27, 2019 12:43 pm Onion: U.S. Army Now Just Chasing Single Remaining ISIS Soldier Around Ruins Of Syrian Village
They didn't get him and ISIS is back!
CNN wrote:The report, from the lead inspector general for Operation Inherent Resolve, the official name for the US-led operation fighting ISIS, covers the period April 1 to June 30, 2019.

"The reduction of US forces has decreased the support available for Syrian partner forces at a time when their forces need more training and equipping to respond to the ISIS resurgence," Glenn Fine, the principal deputy inspector general, wrote in a message accompanying the report.
The former US Special Presidential Envoy for the ISIS fight, Brett McGurk, tweeted the report's findings on Wednesday, saying it "concludes that Trump's ordered withdrawal of forces came at the worst possible time and has decreased resources needed to complete the mission."

"This report speaks for itself and should be taken seriously," McGurk, who resigned from the administration in December shortly after Trump announced his plans to withdraw from Syria, later added.

The report warns that because of the reduction in personnel, the US and its local allies were unable to closely monitor the al-Hol internally displaced persons camp, a situation that has allowed "ISIS ideology to spread 'uncontested' in the camp," potentially allowing ISIS to replenish its ranks among the tens of thousands of inhabitants.
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Re: ISIS

Post by naednek »

apparently we got the ISIS leader.

Trump says they have confirmed it was him through some sort of testing.

Now we get to hear him brag about himself even more...

https://www.cnn.com/2019/10/27/politics ... index.html
hepcat - "I agree with Naednek"
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Re: ISIS

Post by Kraken »

As I said in the other thread, it doesn't demean us to congratulate an adversary who succeeds at something that's good for all of us. Every now and then, even Trump does something right. Stopped clock, blind squirrel, etc.

Of course, Trump can't help being Trump; he will make it all about his own greatness and milk it for everything it's worth on the campaign trail, when in fact his personal role was probably limited to signing off on the mission, possibly without understanding what it was.
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Re: ISIS

Post by YellowKing »

He refused to give Obama credit for authorizing the raid that led to Bin Laden's death, so he gets no congratulations from me. Only the heatfelt wish that he was the one our special forces were hunting down like a dog.
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